Prince Philip recently
flew Smiths Industries'
HS.748 to gain ex
perience of the SEP.6
autopilot and flight sys
tem. He is seen ofter
the flight talking with
Mr A. P. W. Cane
(left), operational ad
viser, and Mr J. G.
Cruse, assistant chief
pilot. The SEP.6, which
is fully approved for
Cat 2 weather opera
tion, may replace the
SEP.2s in the Andovers
of the Queen's Flight
which also visited the West Coast (Flight,
April 1.8, 1968, page 566).
During their first week the mission
"members met representatives of 24 US
companies including Bell Helicopters,
General Dynamics, Collins Radio, Varo
Inc, McDonnell Douglas and Rocket-
dyne. In the second week, contacts
already established on the West Coast,
including those with Boeing and Lock
heed, were renewed.
In addition to the increase of Scottish
Aviation business and the Cossor con
tract, Ferranti (Bracknell) have estimated
total sales of $1 million p-a. over the
next five years as a result of the trip
and Page Engineering have received six
requests to tender for contracts.
The BNEC is sponsored by the Associ
ation of British Chambers of Commerce,
the Confederation of British Industries,
the Committee on Invisible Exports and
the Trades Union Congress.
Shorts' Loan Opposition?
Short Bros directors, meeting in Lon
don next week, may express opposition
to the £6 million loan offered jointly
s by the UK and Northern Ireland
Governments (Flight, December 26,
1968). The company is still awaiting
capital reconstruction, promised in 1967,
and this is what the board wishes rather
than to be lent money which has to be
repaid at commercial interes't rates.
Meanwhile, negotiations with the US
Rohr Corporation are hanging fire. The
American company would prefer to dis
cuss a financial shareholding in a capi
tally reconstructed Shorts; but the UK
Mr Wedgwood Benn-
who, as Minister of
Technology, is the offi
cial "owner" of Beagle—
made his first visit to
the Rearsby, Leicester,
and Shoreham, Sussex,
factories last Friday.
Seen in the Shoreham
drawing office are, I to r,
\ Mr Peter Masefield,
chairman; Mr John Lar-
roucau, chief engineer;
Mr Wedgwood Benn;
and Mr K. N. Myer,
managing director. The
Minister flew in a B.206-S
for the London-Rearsby-
Shoreham journey, re
turning in a Pup-100
FLIGHT International. 16 January 1969 79
Government, majority shareholder in
Shorts, wishes the negotiations with
Rohr to continue before making a de
cision on capital reconstruction. The
Shorts board is likely to indicate in
formal terms its dissatisfaction with this
anomalous state of affairs.
Lockheed 1011: TriStar
Lockheed have chosen the name Tri
Star for their Rolls-Royce-powered
L-1011 due to go into service in 1971. The
company has used "star" names since
the Vega first flew in 1927: the theme
continued with the Sirius, the Lodestar,
the Electra and the Constellation, and
today the JetStar, C-141 Starlifter and
C-5 Galaxy carry on the tradition.
Picked from 700 suggestions, the
name TriStar brought a $250 savings
bond to a Lockheed stenographer.
Skyvan Sales Post
Mr Alex Roberts, senior Skyvan test
pilot of Short Brothers, has been
appointed Skyvan sales manager. Mr
Roberts, who is 33 and has led several
overseas sales tours, will be responsible
to Mr Denis Tayler, recently made
manager of the company's Skyvan
Division (see also page 109, this issue).
Prestwkk Post for Ranald Porteus
Well known for many years as
Auster's chief test and demonstration
pilot, and then as sales manager of
Beagle Aircraft until that company's re
organisation last September, Mr Ranald
Porteus has joined Scottish Aviation as
marketing manager.
SENSOR
Powerplant for MRCA will be decided
very soon now. While the twin-engine
formula is still favoured, using engines
each of about I5,000lb with afterburning
based on the "parametric" Rolls-Royce
RB.199, the MRCA committee has also
been directed to study designs using a
single 30,000lb thrust engine (20,0001b
thrust dry), with "last-date" proposals
from P&W and GE due last Friday.
The resulting near 1:1 thrust/weight ratio
would satisfy German STOL requirements.
An order for over 100 Strikemasters
for the RAF will be placed in the next
few days. The Strikemaster (a version
of the BAC 167) is similar to the air
craft on offer for light strike duties
but retains the Viper II engine of
2.5001b thrust.
STOL for MRCA is gradually becoming
accepted by the British Government, as a
result both of American thinking on FX
and also from consideration of NATO
deployment of the aircraft in Germany.
The need for dispersed operations from
rough fields or autobahns is becoming
increasingly recognised and the 1,000—
l,500ft take-off requirement is now
becoming accepted as logical, although
this penalises payload-range to some extent.
Boron composite produced by the USAF
Materials Laboratory is being used on a
limited number of Lockheed C-5As to test
its usefulness as a weight-saving material
on large aircraft, both in construction
and operation.
MEA was able to finance its purchase of
two Boeing 707-320Cs without down-
payment or guarantees, repayment being
over a period of ten years. The best offer
obtained of VC10 finance was a ten-year
lease without the option to buy, arranged
through London merchant bankers Klein-
wort Benson. The price quoted for the
VC10 was about 1400,000 higher than
for the 707.
BAC no longer has a financial interest
in the Ghana Airways VC10 destroyed
by Israeli commandos at Beirut while
on charter to MEA, and it will there
fore not be affected by absence of war-
risk cover. The loss may fall instead on
the British Government under the
terms of Anglo-Ghanaian trade agree
ments.
The Board of Trade hopes to introduce a
system for the mortgaging of aircraft and
the registration of such mortgages by the
end of the year. This will give better
protection to aircraft sellers and will help
exports. It is uncertain whether the relative
international convention can be ratified
in that time. BoT recently received powers
to act on this matter under the Civil
Aviation Act, 1968.
Operators are being warned of compressor-
icing dangers, especially for turbofan
engines, in freezing fog, as a result of
the take-off crash of the Boeing 707-320C
freighter at Anchorage, Alaska, on
December 26. Three engines apparently
flamed out following the melting of a
film of ice on the compressor blades.
This was formed during a long period of
taxying.